RECIPES: Recipe Details

One of my favorite things is the Japanese "bento box" -- a pretty boxed lunch full of tasty, savory things -- usually grilled meat or fish with rice, a salad, pickles, and sometimes crispy panko or tempura vegetables or seafood. Usually served with miso soup, bento boxes can be simple or elaborate, but they're always delicious. I decided to create a burger with some of my favorite bento box flavors -- burger patties with green onion and salty, savory red miso (a fermented soybean paste -- full of "umami"), a tangy, sesame-tinged wilted slaw, a sweet and spicy mayonnaise (spiked with gochujang, a Korean chili paste that often turns up at Japanese-Korean restaurants), and a hit of crispy garlic breadcrumbs to give the burger an extra crunch. It's a bento box in a burger! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

To prepare the burger patties, combine ground chuck, red miso, Sutter Home Sauvignon Blanc, green onion and pepper in a large bowl, handling as little as possible. Form into 6 patties. Cover and set aside.

To prepare the gochujang mayonnaise, whisk together mayonnaise, gochujang, lemon juice and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

To prepare the crunchy garlic panko, heat a medium flameproof skillet on the grill over medium-high heat. Melt butter in skillet with vegetable oil. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add panko breadcrumbs and cook, stirring, until golden brown and crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

When ready to grill patties, brush grill rack with vegetable oil. Place patties on the rack and cook, covered, over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes per side or to desired doneness. Remove from heat and keep warm. During the last few minutes of cooking, lightly toast the rolls by placing them, cut sides down, around the edges of the grill.

To assemble the burgers, spread both cut sides of each roll with some of the gochujang mayonnaise. Place a lettuce leaf on roll bottom, followed by a burger patty, a portion of slaw, and a generous sprinkling of crunchy garlic panko. Add roll top and serve.